The World Ends With You Game Review # 2

The World Ends With You is an action RPG made by the same team that made by the Kingdom Hearts team and Jupiter at Square Enix. Jupiter made Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories before being a part of this game. It originally released on Nintendo DS in Japan in July 2007 then other regions in April 2008.

The gameplay is hard to get used to but is satisfying to master. It boils down to doing two things at once as you keep track of action on both screens. There are ways to assist such as having the top screen auto or go auto after no input for a short period of time. When the top is in auto it will not make decisions nearly as well or as fast as you can so it would be recommended to take the time to learn to play. Luckily you can control the difficulty in two ways. You can change your level and the enemies difficulty. This game can be either a walk in the park or very hard with this system. For those that go for the harder path they are rewarded with better drops from enemies and/or higher drop rates.

The story is great. If you are looking for something like Kingdom Hearts but without Disney, this is it. It is very unique as you play as a youth in Shibuya, where making fashion statements are just as important except used to fight enemies. The game will take you for a ride and expect to not know what to expect throughout.

The music is worth purchasing just by itself. There are many great songs and the music matches the vibes from the game. There are many times where I would pause the game and just listen through the soundtrack.

This is a fantastic game and a most own for anyone that is more then a little curious. This is probably one of my favorite games for the Nintendo DS, a system that had many great games. It is also definitely one of my favorite games period. This is a game that I had to have in my collection and bought a second time because my first practically 100 percent completed copy was stolen. If you can't find a copy, last month an IOS version was released Worldwide. I can't recommend that version since I have no experience but it would be worth looking into if its the only way you can experience this game.

Bayonetta 2 Nintendo News #2

Things have died down a lot since last week. No new major announcements. Now begins the wait for all those that were able to get a pre-order in for the Wii U.. But there is still some people talking about the big announcements last week. The cause: Bayonetta 2.

The original Bayonetta was a single player mature action game that was released in late 2009/early 2010 depending on where you live. The game was developed by Platinum Games and Sega was the publisher. It can now be played on just the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The game has received great reviews and awards and sold just under 2 million copies since it was released. Like possibly many other Nintendo gamers, I have not been able to play this game due to it not being released on a Nintendo system. This game series as a topic went from recently off the radar to be one of the most talked about discussions currently. Even after most other discussions have died down after last weeks announcement, this discussion keeps going on and new information keeps coming out. Bayonetta 2 being exclusive to Wii U was a surprise announcement last week. For myself I first thought it was great that Nintendo was putting focus on a core game that was releasing exclusively for Wii U. I felt Nintendo needed to show something like this to show that they wanted to be the system not just for casual and the Nintendo loyal but for everyone. Unfortunately many did not see this the same way. There was a large amount of people that went to the internet to voice negative opinions regarding this which was far more then those that felt this was a positive at first. Things have slowly died down as the week went on and this was in part to additional news. Executive Director Atsushi Inaba came out and said that without Nintendo there would be no Bayonetta 2. After piecing together a lot of information a larger story appeared. There have been reports of Sega going through a low period. There were rumors that they had to cancel the development of Bayonetta 2 due to not feeling it would be profitable enough to continue. We don't know if Nintendo saw this and made the first step or if Sega or Platinum Games had been looking for publishers (and if so if Nintendo was first). One would assume that even either way that other avenues would have been looked at to either make it multi-platform or at least released on one or both of the systems the original was released on. If that was the case then it would seem Nintendo publishing was the only way. This stopped a lot of hate as it could no longer be viewed as Platinum Games selling out to Nintendo's money. Platinum Games show they want to make a sequel and have been responding to fans several times this week.

One now may wonder what would happen if this was a core gamer franchise that had even more popularity and was also never released on any Nintendo systems. One that had no risk of not continuing. Would history repeat and a larger outcry would happen? One could imagine what would it be like if the internet was how it is now back when the Final Fantasy series was only on Nintendo systems and then suddenly Final Fantasy 7 was announced for PlayStation exclusively. Back then the developer stated they needed what the PlayStation had to make the game they wanted to make. Was that wrong back then and would it be wrong now for a developer to do the same with the Wii U if they felt they needed what it has? Another thought is to buying exclusivity. It isn't exactly a secret that money has been spent in the past to buy exclusivity whether it be a timed exclusive, extra content, or complete exclusivity. Many currently find that Nintendo saving Bayonetta 2 as a good thing as it would never be released otherwise but what if it was a series that would have no issues releasing a sequel on the platforms it had originally released on. Would this be wrong and if so, where is the line? These are questions on my mind and possibly many gamers after the fallout from this news.

One good thing that came out of this news is I know a lot more about the Bayonetta series then I have before. I feel that this might be the case for many other gamers also. I would be very interested in purchasing the original if it comes out to a system I own now or in the future. I personally hope there is news of this happening in the future or that the sequel is released in a way that assists those that have not played the original.

Early History Nintendo History # 2

What better place to start with Nintendo history then at the beginning.

It all began when Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo in 1889. Nintendo was originally a playing card company and they started by producing and advertising Hanafuda cards. In fact it wasn't until 85 years later that Nintendo ventured into video games. In 1974 they secured the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan. Then it wasn't until 7 years later in 1981 that Mario was created as Jumpman in Donkey Kong. It's amazing to think that there is almost 100 years of Nintendo history that doesn't get talked about much. Even Nintendo employees rarely goes back before Donkey Kong when talking about the company. It does happen though such as Nintendo releasing Mario themed Hanafuda cards for Club Nintendo users. The WarioWare series has numerous times referenced these past business moves. The farthest back I have seen is going back to 1966 when Nintendo went into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand. The Ultra Hand even got a WiiWare game for Club Nintendo users. It is worth noting that Nintendo had numerous business ventures over the years but still were mainly a playing card company until 1963. That is 74 years of focusing on only playing cards. You may wonder what snapped to cause so much change after such a long time doing the same thing. The answer would be Hiroshi Yamauchi, the third president of Nintendo. In 1949 his Grandfather suffered a stroke and named Hiroshi his successor. In 1956 he visited the United States Playing Card Company and realized that the biggest company in the world in Playing Cards was ran in a small office. Realizing the limitations of the business, Hiroshi tried many business ventures. Famously Nintendo also owned a chain of love hotels as one of these business ventures. The Playing Card market dropped in 1964. The price of Nintendo stock was only 60 yen. All business ventures failed up until entering the toy industry. The success in the toy industry is in large part to Gunpei Yokoi. Yokoi invented the Ultra Hand in his spare time as a maintenance engineer for Nintendo. Yokoi soon produced several popular toys for Nintendo. These two men shaped Nintendo from just a Playing Card company and into the toy industry. Without this change and the success that was had, Nintendo would not have been there to become the Nintendo that many know today.

But that will be a story for another day.

Mario Party 9 Game Review # 1

There have been a lot of Mario Party games over the years. Looking at the North American release dates we see something. The Nintendo 64 had one each year from 1998 to 2000. The Nintendo Gamecube had one each year from 2002 to 2005. Also earlier in 2005 the Nintendo Game Boy Advance had a portable entry. In 2007 we had another one on Nintendo DS and then one for the Nintendo Wii. If we stop at 2007 we see that #1 there are a lot of Mario Party console games and #2 Nintendo releases them annually on home consoles as soon as they release that first one for the console. This is very odd when looking at Nintendo History. If we take a series like Super Smash Brothers it has only had one per console since its release on Nintendo 64. Going back further we see Mario Kart has had one with every console since it started on Super Nintendo plus one on every handheld starting on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance which is similar to Mario Party portable entries. All of these series are praised as great multi-player experiences. One wonders why the Mario Party Portable series has followed this and yet the consoles have seen multiple entries. Then after Mario Party 8 something happened. No announcements on a Mario Party 9. I remember waiting for a Mario Party 9 announcement during this time. I expected it but it never came. Mario Party 8 was graphically similar to the Nintendo Gamecube games which is expected from a game that was in development early in the Nintendo Wii's life. The gameplay also suffered from this early development as the controls were not fully realized. There was a lot of waggling in place of pushing buttons. Now Nintendo has released Mario Party 9 this year and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.

Mario Party 9 is a must have party game for the Nintendo Wii. That is saying something since the Nintendo Wii is home to a lot of party games. There are only a few groups that I would exclude from the must buy list. The game shines in multiplayer. You can play single-player but a majority of the enjoyment is with other people. This does not take advantage of online so local multiplayer only. If you have no one locally to play with or not enough Wii Remotes for at least one more person then this game would be more enjoyed as a rental instead of a purchase more then likely. Even though the game supports four players and is built around that, you can enjoy the game greatly with just two people. Nothing in this game supports any Wii Remote attachments or Motion Plus so any Wii Remote will work just by itself to enjoy this game. If you have friends that also have Nintendo Wiis then have them bring their Wii Remotes to have fun at your place if you don't have enough Wii Remotes.

Graphically, this game is beautiful. It is widescreen and the art style is very visually appealing. I had no issues playing the game caused by graphics.

The music was great for what it was needed for. It was designed to be background music and it does a good job with this task. The music may be repetitive but that never became a problem in my playthroughs.

The gameplay is great. There was less then a handful of minigames where I felt the game would play better without the motion controls which are forced upon you. Also there were only a few minigames which are based upon luck only instead of any skill. Luckily if you play the main mode or a majority of other modes in the game with human players then you can usually avoid playing these minigames. It should be noted that the main mode does require luck and skill to win. I feel that luck weighs more on this scale. I feel this is different from past Mario Party games. Each had luck but I felt skill was still more important in those games. There were several times I saw I would win a majority of minigames but wind of loosing the whole game due to bad luck. After playing the game a lot I eventually was able to improve my odds by realizing how the game would work against the winning players and work to avoid those traps if I was winning. Likewise I would work towards those things if I was losing. It is fun in its own right. If the other players are not putting up enough of a game then it becomes you vs the game itself. Also you can put a handicap for other players if you want things a bit more balanced. You will also notice that the main part of the game is all done with everyone in the same vehicle plus every map has a beginning and an end. This is new to the series and I love it. It takes getting used to but I feel it is something that I want to see more in the future. I would not mind having both modes in future games but would be upset to see this not show up again. If you hate the new way the main game plays then there is always several other modes where skill becomes the name of the game.

This was my favorite Mario Party game and it was a great Wii game. If you don't own this game then consider adding it to your collection.

Wii U Release Info Nintendo News #1

It's time for our first Nintendo News of the week! Possibly the biggest news in all of gaming this week has been the Wii U. Before this week all that was publicly known was the Wii U was coming out this year and games that would be coming to the system with no dates for their release. The public has multiple times been shown what the system would look like and how it would play also. The big three announcements was release dates, prices, and launch games.

The Wii U is releasing in North America on November 18th, Europe and Australia on November 30th, and Japan on December 8th. There will be a white and a black Wii U available at launch. The white Wii U will have 8GB of storage. It will be priced at $299.99 in the United States and ¥26,250 in Japan. The black Wii U will have 32GB of storage and will also a cradle and charging stand for the GamePad, a stand for the Wii U, and the game Nintendo Land. It will be priced at $349.99 in the United States and  ¥31,500 in Japan. No price information is available for Europe and Australia at this time. Also for the first time since the Nintendo 64 there will be a Mario game at launch, New Super Mario Bros. U.

Here is a sizzle reel that Nintendo has released with games that will be available for the Wii U.

Lastly in Nintendo release news are reports that multiple retailers (local and online) are ALREADY selling out of their pre-orders. If you are interested in getting a Wii U before 2013 then I recommend to pre-order and guarantee yourself a Wii U. I imagine that more similar reports will be coming down the pipe before Monday as word gets out about Wii U and the information that pre-orders are selling out.

It begins... Nintendo History #1

Hello Internet,

It is my pleasure to introduce the web to my take on any and all things Nintendo. I plan on writing about Nintendo's history every Thursday, going over Nintendo news of the week every Saturday, and doing a review of a game for a Nintendo console every Sunday. To start things off I would like to go over my short personal history with Nintendo

I have been playing Nintendo games since before I can remember. I was born into the NES era of gaming. I spent a lot of my childhood playing the small amount of games that I owned and doing a lot of game rentals for ones that I did not. I did not have any friends or members of the family that shared my passion so when I connected to the internet for the first time as a kid it was a shock to learn that many my favorite games were made by the same company. The internet was a large source of my learning about Nintendo at that time. I went back to play games that I missed out on during my rentals and updated myself with the upcoming Nintendo news. This desire to learn more about Nintendo is still present in me as I still go online to find the latest Nintendo news and look for any gems coming through the pipes to play.

I want to finish this post noting that I have a passion for gaming as a whole. This blog may be focused on Nintendo but that does not mean that I'am blind everything else. I own and love a large amount of 3rd party games on my Nintendo systems and even play games that are not on Nintendo systems at all. My passion for gaming as a whole is so much larger then my passion for just Nintendo. Before I knew what Nintendo was I knew one thing, I love video games. That has never changed. Long live gaming!